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Homebuilt Ford Falcon by Greasegirl #3 Last night, we finished prep on the engine bay and started masking. With 9 days to go until Mooneyes Xmas Show, we completely masked off the rest of the car - as the engine bay and hood are the only thing we're painting. Our 1960 Ford Falcon still wears its original white paint which is in pretty good condition. The hood however, appears to have been replaced and looked ugly with just white primer on it. The ugly hood combined with having the engine out is why this whole paint job began. I've chosen a metallic-suede Hot Rod Flatz paint in a contrasting color for the task (you'll just have to wait and see!) After masking the car, we didn't want to apply primer that we'd be smelling all night while we slept. So instead Ethan turned back to cleaning suspension parts and taking apart the brakes while I shined the grill and headlight rings. I'd finished shining the grill with 0000 steel wool and was considering turning in for bed a little early when I remembered the hood. If Ethan planned on...

Homebuilt Ford Falcon by Greasegirl #2 The goal for tonight was to wash and clean the engine bay, apply rust remover where needed, and mask for paint. With a sudsy bucket of cleanser, I went to work while Ethan began cleaning suspension parts. It's amazing when you've done so much sanding and scraping - that you'll still find more! After I'd gone over the entire engine bay with cleanser followed by water - then dried and air-dried it - my husband came along and pointed out a couple of areas that I'd missed. Grrrrr! I went back over those after giving him a scowl. After one more wash and dry I moved on to the rust remover. Only small bits of rust are left, mostly hiding in corners. Bedtime was approaching, so the only masking that was accomplished was the holes in the firewall...but I'd say we reached our goal tonight. 9 more days to go!   In the Garage Until: 11:36pm Want to catch up? Here's where everything started:  12 Day 1960 Falcon Build #1   For more Falcon fun, check out Pikesan's project: 1963 Ford Falcon Wagon...

Homebuilt Ford Falcon by Greasegirl & Ethan The last time you heard about the Ford Falcon project, I was getting everything off the engine in order to pull it... that was nearly a year ago! In between here and there you've hardly heard from me. It's been quite a year - not only did I start a new job (in which I'm writing articles every day), I got married, and moved. Those things haven't kept me from the garage though - I helped build a demolition derby car with my car club and also took part in my first SEMA build project with the SEMA Businesswomen's Network. I can only make excuses for so long though - and the time has come to follow through with the Falcon. In bits and pieces over the past few months, the engine has come out, I've done my first bits of body work using hammers and dollies, and I've sanded the engine bay. Originally, this was to be a quick job - sanding just enough to lay some rough paint down. Well, the moment that Chicago Pneumatic sander uncovered bare metal I...

Two Steering Wheels Separated at Birth What do you think of this steering wheel? Dig it? It's a Billet Specialties designed and manufactured wheel they call, "Draft". More info on this steering wheel here. I stopped in Billet Specialties' booth at SEMA to chat with new friend Scott Sandoval and see what new products they had. I've been a fan of their wheels for a while after I used a set of their wheels a Mind-Only build of my 1961 Rambler wagon. That's another story... To my surprise, Scott said they didn't have many new designs, especially wheels, on hand because folks were stealing their designs as soon as they were shown at SEMA. I said, "Really??!" Still riled from one of the copy-cat's dudes strolling right into the booth to grab this year's new catalog, Scott directed me to another vendor at SEMA where I took this photo: With the fella in this booth staring at me, I grabbed this shot and compared, at the time by memory, to the Billet Specialties wheel. While not an EXACT copy, I have to agree with Scott, this design looks way-WAY...

Galpin Auto Sports Ford Greats at SEMA 2012 (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe Wondering what this is? I was too! Turns out this is one of two cars built for the United States Air Force as part of the 2009 "Super Car Tour", a new recruiting tool. The other car built was a Dodge called "VAPOR".  Think something like this would help a gearhead sign up for service? Flat but pearly paint covers the Lambo style doors, APR custom wide body kit and Galpin Auto Sports (better known as GAS) carbon deck lid. The overall look was speedy and ready for flight. Especially... Inside where the magic is! That's a real jet ejection seat sitting right in the middle of the car. I suspect the flight stick doubles as the gear shift and the steering wheel is just barely seen here with the X-1 logo on it. Better hang on too, there's a 500HP Ford Racing 4.6L under the hood. This is wild! Call me crazy, but I'd still rather have the original, "Barn Find" 1965 Shelby GT350...

1969  Boss 302 Mustang at SEMA 2012 Click for everything @ SEMA Show from MyRideisMe   I'd guess, most people who walked by this 1969 Boss 302 Mustang didn't know. It's hard to see a mostly stock Mustang among the all-out custom cars at the SEMA Show. I get it. Me too. But you should take another look at the Retrobuilt 1969 Boss 302 Mustang. It's a clone.   I don't have a great love for clone cars. It's difficult to get the proportions right (or even close) so they look just "off". When I first saw Retrobuilt's 'stang, I was pleasantly surprised.     The 2005 and later Ford Mustangs are great performers and they look great. They've got semi-classic lines, but for some folks, they just miss. When the 1969 Mustang lines are what you really want, but you're not ready to give up modern safety features like traction control and airbags, then the Retrobuilt Mustangs might be for you. Turn heads on an out-of-state cruise night with this glowing yellow Boss 302, then don't sweat the trip back... Set the cruise control, tune in XM radio and relax! The...

1965 Dodge D200 Crew Cab at SEMA 2012 (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe Rugged and stylish with BRUTAL torque and room for the kids and toys! That's the ICON 1965 Dodge D200 Crew cab truck found at the Optima Batteries booth at the 2012 SEMA Show. This truck rocks! From every angle, this Dodge D200 is striking! I've been a fan of Dodge D200 trucks since I saw this at Goodguys a few years back: Dad's Old 1965 Dodge D200. While not a crew cab, it's a great looking custom truck. Sneaking a peak at the build card, this is the ICON D200 Reformer. I don't know about "reform" it makes me want to be bad! The D200 crew cab body rides on a 2006 Dodge 3500 truck chassis and runs the Cummins diesel, but with a little help from the Banks crew to the tune of 975 ft-lbs of torque! That's riding on a Kore Baja Chase suspension with 37" BFG's and Hutchison bead lock wheels. Inside, it's just as trick. I had to look this up,...

New Ford Bronco Sheetmetal at SEMA 2012 (Click to see full size) I've always been a fan of early Ford Broncos. It's got rough, rugged lines to go with it's four wheel drive ability and performance thanks to Ford V8 performance. My buddies got one sitting next to his 1965 Mustang fastback for off-roading with his sons.  That sounds like fun. So maybe like you, I scan for deals on Broncos online. When I do, it seems like in any Craigslist ad, I hear the same thing... "no rust" or "uncut". Then, the pictures show a tattered rig with it's best days on the range long gone. So when I saw this completely new, ready  to bolt on set up from Dynacorn, I knew some hardcore Bronco folks would be into it. Dynacorn makes new body panels for a bunch of  popular muscle cars like the Mustang, Camaro, Nova and now the Bronco. Hope this saves some of those old 4-wheelers from the scrap heap. Am I right? Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe...

Custom One Off Wheels at SEMA 2012 (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe Let the debate begin! To me, this was the hottest wheel I saw and if there's one thing more common then wheels at the SEMA Show, I don't know what it is! So why is this my pick of SEMA? They're one of a kind, one off wheels - nobody else at the SEMA Show has these wheels (or ever will) They're on  on a bad ass car - 1951 Mercury Custom Tons of thought, above and beyond selecting from a catalog, went into the design Disagree? Cool. Do your thing, but dig this first... Start with a fairly blank canvas: 20x 8.5" Centerline Smoothies shown here. Then, let Max Fish, owner at Bio Kustumz hand- mill the wheels -- that's right, on a manual Bridgeport mill -- to the design you see here. Max is a guy I gotta meet some day. His company slogan is, "We suck less" and he wears it proud in this video where a radiator hose coupling comes off his lathe. Now Max...

Ferrari, Lamborghini & Porsche Flat and Sexy (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe There's a few booths at the SEMA Show you should never miss. One of them's Giovanna's. Much like last year, their booth is a vast expanse of white carpet frequented by fans of the brand, I'm sure, but primarily by folks looking to get close to the Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and McLaren  exotics on hand. That's why I was there! Shown above is the Lamborghini Aventador LP900 "Molto Veloce" by DMC. Need to know more? Here're the details on the DMC Molto Veloce Package. I got my first ride in a Lamborghini as part of the Optima Ultimate Street Car Shootout. More on that later, but it was an Underground Lamborghini Superleggera putting out 1500 HP on C116 racing gas. OK, maybe I stopped in to say hello to the friendly booth girls too... Pictured here is the Ferrari F458 Spider. Exotic car, beautiful girl, how can you go wrong? Ferrari, Lambo's and the like aren't my area of expertise, so if they're yours, check out GT...

Traditional to Wild Custom Paint at SEMA 2012 (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe The SEMA Show's all about custom. One thing there's never a shortage of is custom paint. Pictured about is my buddy Keith Charvonia's 1951 Kaiser. I already posted about it here, The New Sick: 1951 Kaiser Kustom and Speedhunters.com took some pretty amazing pictures here: Drag'n Kaiser. In case you didn't read either of those, this "fade" paint job was applied by customizing legend Gene Winfield. The lights of SEMA, outlined by the casino-like red carpet set off the paint, but to really love it, you have to see it in the sun! Stepping up or maybe to the side... with some custom airbrush work: Wow! Everyone's seen skulls painted on just about everything, but here's a new take! In view here is the Terminator skull, a Japanese devil call "Oni", the gas mask dude, barely visible, the viking skull, bird skull and Friday the 13th skull! It's all laid out on a pale blue flame-like background. The other side's just as impressive. Here on the...

1968 Cadillac Coupe de Ville at SEMA 2012 (Click to see any picture full size) Click for everything @ 2012 SEMA Show from MyRideisMe Ever heard the saying, "A postman doesn't go for a walk on his day off"? Well, the owner of this 1968 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, Tim Johnson, is a painter by trade.  Tim's Caddy is a three year build. The long road to SEMA started in early 2010 when his soon-to-be wife Jacquelyn (he wisely married her 2 year ago) picked it up for him as a gift. He's been driving it for the last couple years, dodging (unsuccessfully) rain, puddles, sprinklers and every other kind of moisture due to the bare metal finish. With so many thumbs up for the swirly finish, and cause the Caddy was in such good shape to start with... Finally, just two weeks before SEMA, Tim decided to clean it up one last time to leave it metal with clear. I'm glad he did. Don't mistake this for any "Rat Rod"... The interior's finished and tight, stitched up by his buddy Eric Hunsaker over at Advanced Mobile Electronics in Las...